When you hear the words “Hillary For President,” do you get a churning feeling in your stomach?
According to Time Magazine, a Super PAC is gearing up big time for former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s anticipated run for president.
The Super PAC organization has already rented the email list of her supporters from her 2008 presidential campaign. This along with the distribution of thousands of “I’m Ready for Hillary” bumper stickers.
Most would call it a strong indication, and not merely an afterthought, that Ms. Clinton will seek the Democratic presidential nomination. As non-committal as ever, she still says she is “undecided.”
Based only on past performance, we would expect no less from her.
There is a trick in play here – or you could call it presidential candidate strategy.
There are laws that disallow the rental of a mailing list once a candidate declares their candidacy, because super PACs can’t coordinate directly with active candidates after they declare they are running.
Moves by this Super PAC moves and other rallying cries for her candidacy that are starting to be heard, so early before the 2016 election, place her in the frontrunner position. This alone will assist her to solicit a massive war chest of campaign money, once she announces her decision to run. She says that decision will come sometime this year.
Her political team is expected to include the likes of National Economic Council Adviser Gene Sperling, who is retiring from his current position next month. Sperling spent several years in various roles in former President Bill Clinton’s administration and has remained close to the Clintons.
Sperling had previously served as Hillary’s top economic adviser during her previous run for the Oval Office.
Not only do runs for the presidency take a long time to prepare for, they also take a long time to shut down. The campaign team for Ms. Clinton’s previous run, in which she was defeated by Barack Obama, only filed a termination report with the Federal Election Commission after she paid off her 2008 campaign debts and stepped down from the State Department.
There seems to be little doubt that Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for the presidency again, and this early startup should send a message to others, that it is serious. It may not stop Joe Biden from acting as a sideshow in 2016.
